Method of making paper-box fasteners



April 14, 1925.. 1,533,352

L. W. SMITH METHOD OF MAKING PAPER BOX FASTENERS Filed Au 5, 1920 L011 21). mii jv Patented Apr. 14, 1925.

UNITED STA "1.011 W. sxrrn, or cmcaeo, rumors.

lemon or mime PAPER-BOX msrmmns.

Application filed August 3, 1920. Serial No. 401,036.

- To all whom. itlmay concern:

Be it known that I, Loo W. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chica in the county of Cook and State of II mois, have-invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Methods of Making I Paper-Box Fasteners, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improved method of making paper box fasteners and the like.

The primary object of my invention is to provide an im 'roved method of manufac- -turin a simp e and inexpensive form of box astener which will have maximum security of engagement with the wall of the vising the body portion .thereof to have a comparatively large area of clenched engagement with the wall of the box by the provision of a plurality of clenching prongs on the bodyportion at points so distributed as to sustain the lateral and outward strains to which the fastener is subjected, without danger of tearing from the box.

This improved method is designed to punch out these fasteners with maximum rapidity and with perfect economy of material, this latter resultbeing attained by punching the fasteners out of the stock material in sucha manner as to utilize every bit of stock and waste scrap. v.

' In the accompanying drawings in which a preferred embodiment of-my lnvention is particularly illustrated Figure 1 is a perspective view of a paper box illustrating the application of one of my improved fasteners;

Fig.2 is a perspective view of the stock material illustrating in progressive sequence the various punching operations performed thereon;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the completed fastener;

. Fi 4 is a simplified end view of the punc ing dies for performing the punching operations;

Fig. 5 is a side view of the same; and

Fig. 6 is. a plan view of the die plate.

- Referring to the perspective illustration inFig. .3, my improved'box fastener compaper box; this being accomplished by dc-- avoid the creation of any.

prises a body portion 10 and an extending ton ue 11. The tongue 11 is made considerahly narrower than the body portion 10, forming an upper edge on the body portion from which are bent down two prongs or spurs 12-12. These prongs are of triangular formation, being struck down from the metal alon the lateral ed es of the tongue 11 in such a manner as to orm vertical inner edges on the prongs and inclined outer edges which converge inwardly and form points on the prongs. The lower end of the fastener is similarly formed with two triangular prongs 1414. The outer edges of these prongs 14 extend verticall or at a right angle to the bodyof the astener, while the inner edges extend diagonally thereto to form the points. Itwill be noticed that the lower edge of thebody portion 10 isformed with an upwardly extending recess 15.

As I shall hereinafter describe in connection with the punching operation, this recess results from punching the ton e end of the preceding fastener out of t e body portion of the next adjacent fastener. This practice does not impair the strength of the body portion 10 or prongs 14 to any extent, and has the advantage of saving a considerable quantity of metal.

Fig. 1 illustrates a ty ical application of my improved type of astener to a paper box. The fastenersiare secured to the end walls of the box 16 by forcing the prongs 12 and 14 through the wall of thebox from the outside and clenching over the inner proiecting ends on the inside of the box. provision of the four prongs 12-12 and 14-14 at the four corners of the fastener insures a distributed area of engagement of the fastener with the wall of the box and assures a firmer mounting of the fastener on the box. The fouroint fastening prevents lateral. as wel as inward and outward bending strains from loosening the fastener and thus securely holds the fastener against such strains as will generally tend to loosen a two-prong fastener. The fasteners are preferably situated adjacent the upper edge of the wall. of the box, so that the tongues 11 thereof will be in position to pass through slotted openings 17 in the ends of the box 18.

With. the box cover 18 in position, the pro- The down upon the cover, either along the top ordown across the ends, in an obviousmanv ner.

A affording greater security of fastening when engaging over the box cover. It will be- In Fig. 2 I have illustrated the successive punching operations .involved in the manufacture of these fasteners; and it willbe noted from this figure that the stock material is in the form of strip metal of exactly the same width as that of the finished fastener. The first ope-ration to be performed on the stock strip 20 is the punch ing of twodiagonal incisions 21 on opposite sides of the strip, and simultaneously therewith, or subsequently, bending the triangular portions of metal formed by the acute angles of the incisions downwardly on each side of the strip and thereby forming the triangular prongs 1414. After the cutting of these two incisions 2121 and the bending downward of theprongs 14, which operations are preferably performed as-a simultaneous operation, the stock strip 20 is fed forwardly (whichis to the right as illustrated in Fig. 2) to place the diagonal incisions 21 under the punching tools which perform the next operation. This latter operation is to make two incisions 2222 which extend substantially longitudinally from the innermost ends of the diagonal incisions 21-21, as indicated by the dotted lines at the first step andby the full lines at the second step. These longitudinal incisions 22 are preferably extended back to a point approximately even with the outer ends of the diagonal incisions'21; it will 'of course be obvious that these longitudinal incisions may be inclined inwardly or outwardly from a true longitudinal line for the purpose of making, wider or narrower prongs, if desired. The cutting punch is preferably so designed that simultaneously with the cutting of thesedongitudinal incisions 22, the triangular portions of metal. between the diagonal and longitudinal incisions will be bent downwardly to form the triangular prongs 12. After the performance of this operation the stock strip 20 is again advanced to place the portion of strip.

previously operated upon under the die which punchesrout the tongue 11. As indicated by the dotted line 23, the outer end of the tongue 11 is preferably punched out of the end of the next succeeding fastener. This is the preferred practice inasmuch as itprovides a, relatively long tongue 11 for noted, however, that a relatively large portion of the tongue 11 is defined between the longitudinal incisions 22, and 'as an alternative construction, I may separate the fasteners by cutting across the neck of.

4 metal at either end of the: longitudinal in- .cisions so as to utilize this extending neck of metal as the tongue. The present practice of continuing the tongue up into the body of the next succeeding fastener is however preferred. The tongue ma of course be reversed by punching it out of the precedm insteadof the succeeding fastener,

in which event the tongue would extend A vertically reciprocating die head 26 carries on its under side the several male dies whichare adapted to cooperate with a.

female die or die plate 27.. The stock stri 20 isfed intermittently from right to le t between the dies and the die plate during the reciprocation of the dies, suitable guide mechanism (not shown) being provided for guiding the strip in operative association with the dies. A first pair of dies 28 performs the simultaneous operation of cutting i the diagonal incisions -2121 and bending the triangular prongs 14downwardly out of the intervening portions of metal. These dies 28 cooperate with triangular die openings in the die plate 27, into which the prongs 14' are bent. Subsequent to this operation the strip is raised and advanced forwardly to position the notched portion of the strip directly under a second pair of dies 31. This latter pair of dies cooperate with a pair of substantially square die openings 32 in the die plate 27, along the margins of which the dies 31 shear the longitudinal incisions 22 and fold down the triangular prongs 12-12. The next operation is performed by raising the strip and advancing it forwardly to position the two pairs of prongs 12 and 14 in register with a second pair of rectangularopenings 33 in the die plate 27 This locates the outer or lower end of the fastener. directly over a small male die 34 in the die plate 27, which male die 34 is conformed to punch out the pointed tip of the tongue 11 from the outer end of the outermost fastener unit. C0- operating with the die 34 is a spring pressed plunger 35, which is sha similarly to the die 34 and which is em raced by a female die member 36"which is adapted to move and perform the operation of punchin out .the end. of the tongue 11. In the per or ance of this latter punchi operation, it will be noticed that the ad acent pairs of prongs 12 and 14 are thrust downwardly down over the margins of the male die 34 I jured. The fasteners may be secured directly to the body of the box at this point or may be discharged into a hopper for packing.

It will be noticed froln the foregoing that the gang arrangement of the dies performs the three punching operations at different points on the stock strip upon each reciprocation of the die head, and as a. result the punching out of the completed fasteners follows as a continuous operation. It will also be noted that as a result of the present formation of fastener and the improved method of making the same there is an entire elimination of waste scrap metal.

I claim:

1. The method of constructing box fasteners out of a continuous strip of metal which comprises making lateral incisions in the edge of the. strip and punching prongs for said fasteners by folding backwardly the metal adjacent said lateral incisions, and punching tongues on said fasteners from substantially the entire metal between said lateral incisions.

2. The method of constructing box fasteners out of a continuous strip of metal which comprises cutting lateral incisions along each edge of the strip and punching prongs for said fasteners by bending downwardly the metal adjacent said lateral incisions, and forming tongues on said fasteners by punching the same out of the adjacent fasteners and from substantially the entire metal between said lateral incisions.

3. The method of constructing box fasteners out of a continuous strip of metal which comprises making a diagonal incision along each ed e of the strip, bending the metal backwar ly on a line. passing through the end of said incision to form a spur or prong, cutting a substantially longitudinal incision extending from the diagonal incision, bending the intervening metal bar-1v wardly to form a second prong, and punching a tongue for each fastener out of the intervening metal between the incisions on opposite sides of the strip.

4. The method of constructing box fasteners out of a continuous strip of metal which comprises cutting a diagonal incision along each edge of the strip, bending the metal backwardlyon a line passing through the end of said diagonal incisions to forui spurs or prongs, cutting substantially longitudinal incisions extending from the ends of sald diagonal incisions, and bending the intervening metal betweensaid incisions backwardly to form secondary spurs or prongs.

In witness whereofI hereunto subscribe my name this 31st day of July, 1920.

LOU W. SMITH. 

